Improved apparatus foe disintegrating ores



J. B-. COX. Ore Desintegrator. No. 77,259. Patented April 28, I868n E I lo'i' l i'J NJ ETERS. PNU Q-LITNOGMER. WASHINGTON. O. G.

, ttiith fates g r er-Him Letters Patent 1%.. 773259, dated April 28, 1868 IMPROVED APPARATUSFOR DISINTEGRATING ones this some rifemh tn mitts: with patent mph nmkiugprrt at the time.

To ALL WHOMIT MAY ooncnmi:

' Be it known thatI, JERDME B. COX, of San Francisco, in the county of San Francisco, and State of California, have invented a new and improved Disintcgrator for Gold-Mining Purposes'; and I do hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and exact description thereof, which'will enable those skilled in the art to make and use the same, reference being had to the accompanying. drawings,forming part' of this specification.

I This invention relates to a new and improved method of separating gold, with the cement or other material with which such metal may be combined, from the rock, gravel, clay, and other substances; and the invention consists in disintegratingthecement or other material, by agitation and friction, produced by proper machinery, incombination with water, as will be hereinafter described; The drawing- Figure 1,.represents a vertical central'section of the disintegrator, showing the parts of which .it-is composed, and the manner in which they are arranged and operated.-

Figure 2 is a view of thebottom of the pan.

Similar letters of reference indicate corresponding parts.

It may be well to state that gold is found, in certain localities, contained in what is-known as cement, which is a sort of concrete or agglomeration. of sand, gravel, clay, stones, the debris of rocks of various kinds, agglomerated or held together by a material which is perhaps a silicate of lime or soda. This forms a material too hard to be worked without machinery to crush or disintegrate it. p

' Heretofore such machinery has been confined to the ordinary stamps or quartz-crushing machines.

My plan is to disintegrate the material by agitation and friction with water, without grinding or crushing. To do thisl employ any machinery which is adapted to the purpose. The drawing represents a method which has been put in successfuhoperation.

Arepresents, the pan inwhich the operation is performed, This pan is made of cast iron,.or of any other suitable material, and of convenient size. Beneath the pan are cross-bars, B, which support perforated plates or dies, C G, as seen in the drawing. In this example of my invention there are four of these dies, all of which are perforated the same as the one marked 0. The: perforations are long slots, the width of which may be one-eighth of an inch, (more or less,):which width governs the size of the particles which pass from the pan witlrthe gold. Through one of these plates or sections there is a trap or sliding door, a, through which the larger stones are discharged, after they have been properly cleaned ofthe cement. The disintegrated mate= rial, with the water, escapes'into proper sluice-boxes below, for amalgamation and retention of the gold.

The moving portion of the'machinery I will now proceed to describe. The centre of the pan is occupied by a cone-shaped stand, D, which may extend up tonearly the upper margin of the pan. This stand is of cast iron, and of suitable diameter, and its top end forms'the step or support for the bottom end of a revolving upright shaft, E. The upper 'portion of this shaft issupported by a cross-piece, F, which forms part of the wooden framework to which the pan is secured.

I To the shaft the arms marked G are attached, four in numher,'(m0re or less,) as seen in fig. 1, to. which are attached stirrers or ploughs,'H,'(more or less in number,) the bottom ends of which are'made to pass near the bottom of the pan as the shaft is revolved, as seen in the drawing. The shaft is revolved by any convenient and suitable application of power. 4 v I The pan is loaded with the cement and other material at the top, by means of a. spout or hopper, and a steady current of water is discharged into the panL When the pan is thus loaded, and with a suflicient supply of water, the shaft is revolved at a suitable speed, and-the friction produced, of the material against the machinery, and the particles of the material against each other, by this agitation, causes a rapid disintegration of all the softer portions, (which contain the gold,) and the solution or suspension of them in the water, by

which they are carried off through theholes in the (lies atthe bottom of the pan, leaving behind only the,

coarser gravel and stones which contain nogold. The larger stones are discharged from the pan through the door 11, already described. In this manner a pan loaded with a ton weight of the material may be cleaned and disintegrated, as described, in the space of eight or ten minutes.

t I do not confine myself, in this operation, to the particular material described, but include all old-bearin material, whether. the same has been previously prepared by steaming or other means.

Neither do I confine myself (as before stated) to any particular machine or device for disintegrating any gold-bearing material, by agitation and. friction with water; but'having this described my invention,

I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent- Disintegrating or reducing any gold-bearing material, by'means of agitationand friction with water, so as' to permit of the separation of the gold from such disintegrated material, by the ordinary means of sluice-box,

amalgamation, 35c.

JEROME B. COX.

' Witnesses: I

Jas. 00cm, OTIS V. SAWYER. 

